The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC), NIPSCO, and South Shore Clean Cities unveiled the Commission's first public electric vehicle charging station. The project is part of NIPSCO's IN-Charge Around Town program, which aims to make electric car charging opportunities more accessible to drivers in northern Indiana. IN-Charge Around Town offered incentives to help cover the up-front costs of public charging stations for host locations, as well as installation costs and software subscriptions. The program was launched in 2014 and, to date, has deployed 159 EV charging ports at more than sixty locations throughout northern Indiana, of which over forty are located within Lake, Porter, and LaPorte Counties.

NIRPC Executive Director Ty Warner was one of the ribbon-cutters. “NIRPC is thrilled to be able to participate in this program. By having more charging stations, more region residents will be encouraged to buy electric vehicles, and Northwest Indiana will be more welcoming to travelers using electric vehicles,” he said.

The charging station is part of the ChargePoint network, which currently boasts 29,923 charge points. Using a free ChargePoint card or the mobile app, drivers can use the charging station. The charging station at the NIRPC office in Portage is currently free for public use.

“Encouraging electric vehicle ownership makes both environmental and financial sense,” said Kathy Luther, NIRPC's Director of Environmental Programs. “Over five years, the average owner will save 10 barrels of oil, reduce three tons of greenhouse gas emissions for every 50,000 miles driven, and save approximately $3,500 in fuel costs over the owner of a regular car.”

For more information on NIPSCO's IN-Charge program, visit www.nipsco.com/our-services/in-charge-electric-vehicle-program. Information on ChargePoint can be found at www.chargepoint.com.